Former Northwestern professor Wyndham Lathem sentenced to 53 years in prison for "execution" of boyfriend during sexual fantasy

A judge sentenced a former Northwestern University professor to 53 years in prison Tuesday for the 2017 stabbing death of his boyfriend as part of a sexual fantasy hatched in an online chatroom. Cook County Judge Charles Burns called the killing of Trenton Cornell-Duranleau "cold-blooded" and an "execution" as he sentenced Wyndham Lathem, 47, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in October.

Cornell-Duranleau was stabbed more than 70 times on July 27, 2017, by Lathem and Andrew Warren, a British man who Lathem had paid to come to Chicago to commit the murder together, prosecutors said.

Northwestern fired Lathem, a renowned microbiologist, after he fled the Chicago area following the killing.